Rude Stone Monuments in All Countries: Their Age and UsesFergusson, James
History
Rude Stone Monuments in All Countries: Their Age and Uses
Fergusson, James
Megalithic monuments
of the same construction as the well-known Kit's Cotty-house, near
Maidstone, in Kent. In the cell near which the body lay were found
fragments of five urns, some animal bones, and six brass Roman coins,
viz., one of Claudius Gothicus (270), two of Constantine the Great, two
of Constantine, junior, and one of Valentinian. There is a striking
analogy between this and the great Barrow at New Grange, described by
Dr. Ledwich, of which a more complete investigation of Minning Low
would probably furnish additional proofs." Mr. Bateman was not then
aware that a coin of Valentinian had been found in the New Grange
mound,[173] which is one similarity in addition.
The fact of these coins being found here fixes a date beyond which
it is impossible to carry back the age of this mound, but not the
date below which it may have been erected. The coins found in British
barrows seem almost always those of the last Emperors who held sway
in Britain, and whose coins may have been preserved and to a certain
extent kept in circulation after all direct connexion with Rome had
ceased, and thus their rarity or antiquity may have made them suitable
for sepulchral deposits. No coin of Augustus or any of the earlier
Emperors was ever found in or on any of these rude tumuli, which must
certainly have been the case had any of them been pre-Roman. This mound
is consequently certainly subsequent to the first half of the fourth
century, and how much more modern it may be remains to be determined.
Be this as it may, if Mr. Bateman's suggestion that this monument is a
counterpart of Kit's Cotty-house is correct--and no one who is familiar
with the two monuments will probably dispute it--this at once removes
any improbability from the argument that the last-named may be the
grave of Catigren. The one striking difference between the two is, that
Kit's Cotty-house is an external free-standing dolmen, while Minning
Low is buried in a tumulus. This, according to the views adopted in
these pages, from the experience of other monuments, would lead to the
inference that the Kentish example was the more modern of the two. It
is not, however, worth while arguing that point here; for our present
purpose it is sufficient to know that both are post-Roman, and probably
not far distant in date.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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